Bobby Farrelly Teases Parental Identity Plot for ‘Dumb and Dumber 2’

Jeff Daniels raised the hopes of many Dumb and Dumber fans when he announced the sequel (rumored to be titled Dumb and Dumber To/Too) still has a beating pulse, even after Jim Carrey essentially declared it dead in the water earlier this year.

Bobby Farrelly, one-half of the Farrelly Bros, is confirming that optimistic prognosis for the belated comedy followup. He’s also taken time to announce the storyline featured in the developing Dumb and Dumber 2 script draft from Sean Anders and John Morris (Hot Tub Time Machine).

It’s long been established that the driving force behind a Dumb and Dumber sequel that reunites Daniels as Harry with Carrey as Lloyd is (as B. Farrelly put it) to find out exactly “what those two dimwits would be doing twenty-years later in life.” Farrelly told Digital Spy that the potential for hilarious returns has kept them all interested over the past 18 years, even as the actors and directors moved on with other projects.

“It’s definitely something we’ve been hoping for a long time. We always wanted to get the two original guys Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels back together and see what they’re up to. Now it’s almost 20 years after the original and the other guys are in a point in their career where they had so much fun the first time that they’re willing to do it. We will make this movie.”

Dumb and Dumber 2 is at a bit of disadvantage, when compared to a drawn-out comedy sequel like American Reunion – which lends itself to an intuitive and organic excuse to continue the story (there, the main characters reunite for a 10-year 13-year high school reunion). The original Dumb and Dumber is far from plot-driven, but also fails to lend itself to an obvious continuation. Here’s where Farrelly says the sequel will go:

“The story [for ‘Dumb and Dumber 2’] revolves around the fact that one of them may have sired a child. They want to go and find the child because he’s having a kidney problem and he wants to ask [his dad] for one of his kidneys.”

Kevin Smith took advantage of the 12 years that has passed since he made Clerks to exploit the changes (or, rather, lack of) in the lives of that film’s characters for the sequel, Clerks II. Similarly, the impending Anchorman 2 juxtaposes an evolving social backdrop with its stagnant comedic players. Farrelly says that trend will continue in Dumb and Dumber 2:

“I can tell you that there is no growth out of either one of them and it’s 20 years later. What is funny about the original is that they’re grown men who are complete losers and when the studio came to us about a sequel, we were like, ‘Loads of kids are losers and they’re dumb.’ We didn’t see any value in the sequel so we backed out of it, but now these guys are in regular life and they’re still basically children at heart.”

There’s definite potential for hilarity to ensue in Dumb and Dumber 2, given the idea of Harry and Lloyd living in the internet-centric present (just imagine the two using social media). Furthermore, the prospective parental identity-crisis plot gives the Farrellys an in to create their trademark mix of gooey sentiment with ribald jokes.

Timing is the issue right now, as the Farrellys are aiming to begin production on Dumb and Dumber 2 by Summer 2013 (while Daniels is on-break from HBO’s The Newsroom). We will keep you up-to-date as the story develops.